


Angels Watching Over You

by wolfie_winchester



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Halloween, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-28 23:09:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5108999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfie_winchester/pseuds/wolfie_winchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean meets Castiel when he's out trick or treating with Mom, Dad, and Sammy. Castiel is pretty cool and it doesn't take long for the two to become best friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angels Watching Over You

Dean flashes a toothy grin at his reflection when he comes to stand in front of the mirror. His Halloween costume is perfect! He’d even convinced Mom to get him the mask to wear and he pulls it down over his head, struggling for a second with it until it’s on the right way. Sammy is watching him from the bunk bed behind Dean and he’s already dressed up in his Superman outfit. Dean spins around and strikes a heroic pose, grinning at his little brother.

 

“Look, Sammy! I’m Batman!” he says, holding his black cape out with his hands.

 

“Dean, weren’t you Batman last year?” Sam asks curiously.

 

“So?” Dean says. “Batman is cool, so I can be him as many times as I want.”

 

Sam nods acceptingly, wondering if the same rule applies to Superman. He puts on his shoes and Dean helps him tie them before he hops off the bed and picks up his pumpkin shaped candy basket. Dean picks up his own and he takes off towards the living room to show Mom and Dad.

 

John and Mary are sitting in the living room drinking hot chocolate and watching a Halloween special on TV when their sons come bounding into the room with excited shouts. Mary smiles, knowing how much her boys love dressing up for Halloween. Dean shows John his costume and when he smiles, she can see the gap in his teeth where he’d lost one last week. She couldn’t help but think it was adorable when Dean had found a dollar under his pillow the next morning and had come to announce that his friend Benny was wrong and that the tooth fairy did so exist.

 

“Dad, look! It even comes with a Batarang!” he says, holding up the toy in question. John just laughs and he smiles, patting Dean’s shoulder affectionately.

 

“That’s awesome, buddy,” he replies. “Now you’re all ready to take down the bad guys, right?”

 

Dean nods and Mary watches him as he pretends to fight Sam, making sound effects when his ‘punches’ hit. Sam shoves Dean back and soon they’re both wrestling playfully. John calms them down after a bit with promises of trick-or-treating and candy and at that, both Sam and Dean race to the door, candy baskets in hand.

 

“Come _on_ , guys! You’re taking forever!” Dean groans.

 

John and Mary exchange a glance and she chuckles to herself before she puts the golden crown on her head and the lasso prop on her hip. John winks at her and, sticking with the superhero theme, puts on his green eye mask and slides his ‘magic’ ring onto his finger.

 

“Alright, alright, boys. Hold your horses,” John says, laughing as Dean grabs his hand and drags him outside. Luckily, the night isn’t as chilly as it could be and Dean is positively toasty in his Batman costume. He walks with a bounce in his step, talking excitedly with Sam as they walk down the sidewalk.

 

The first house they come to has gravestones erected with words like ‘Boo!’ on them and pictures of ghosts. There’s a jack-o-lantern on the front porch steps with a scary face carved into it but Dean goes right up to the door and rings the bell, waiting a few seconds until the person answers the door.

 

“Trick or treat!” he and Sam exclaim.

 

“Aren’t you the cutest little superheroes?” the old woman says, smiling as she reaches into a bowl sitting on the nearby table for a handful of Kit Kats.

 

“Batman isn’t cute! He’s awesome!” Dean protests. That makes the old woman laugh and she drops the candy into Sam and Dean’s baskets.

 

“Of course he is,” she says, nodding sagely. Mary hides a snicker and the old woman wishes them a happy Halloween before they set out for the next house.

 

The house next to the old lady’s is empty. Dean figures they’re out trick or treating too and he wonders if they have cool costumes too. Of course, nobody is better than Batman, he thinks. Even though Sammy insists that Superman is the best because he can fly.

 

Dean and Sam’s pumpkin baskets start to fill with all sorts of candy. Dean gets a lot of Hershey’s kisses and a few packs of M&Ms. He has a bunch of Smarties, which he claims belong to Sam because Sam is the smart one. Sammy has about the same, only he’s got a few bags of candy corn too, which is good because Dean likes candy corn and Sam doesn’t.

 

They stop by Uncle Bobby’s house - Dean calls him that even though he knows Bobby isn’t really their uncle - and Sam has to go to the bathroom, so they wait for him out on the front porch while Dad and Uncle Bobby talk about a sports game. Dean doesn’t really care about that, so he rocks back and forth on his heels, already wishing he were out getting more candy.

 

A couple of loud voices get Dean’s attention and he looks over to see a group of four boys walking down the street. He doesn’t see any grown ups, but maybe they’re somewhere else talking about boring sports games too and the boys just got tired of waiting. One of them is carrying a plastic pitchfork and he has horns on his head. He looks like he’s maybe fifteen or sixteen. The others look a little younger. Dean sees a guy already eating some of his candy and he has long hair kind of like Sammy. One of them is taller and he isn’t dressed up at all. He looks like an older brother and Dean thinks he looks mad for some reason. Maybe he doesn’t like taking all his little brothers trick or treating. Dean tries to imagine having three brothers and can only picture two more of Sam running around. He finds that he doesn’t like that very much and he kind of feels bad for the tall one. The last one is dressed up like an angel and Dean can’t help but think about the one Mary has on the shelf above the fireplace, only the boy’s wings are black instead of white. Dean can’t see the rest of his costume because he’s wearing a big coat so he doesn’t get cold.

 

He looks back to see that Dad is still talking to Uncle Bobby. Sammy is done in the bathroom, but he’s sitting on Mary’s lap while she sits and listens to the other two talk. Dean really doesn’t want to stand there forever, so he sneaks away and goes to say hi to the other boys, because they’re coming up to Bobby’s house anyway. He might as well give them the candy so they don’t disturb Mom and Dad. He grabs the bowl of black licorice, which Dean mourns giving away because he loves the stuff, but he knows that wouldn’t be fair to anyone else if he ate all of it. (Mom says it’ll give him a tummyache if he eats too much candy, but Dean does it anyway sometimes.)

 

“Trick or treat!” says the boy with a lollipop in his mouth. Upon closer inspection, Dean sees Smarties wrappers taped to his pants and he snickers when he gets the joke. He hands out the licorice to the three of them, since the oldest doesn’t have his own basket, and the boy with the pitchfork makes a face.

 

“Ew, I hate licorice,” he says.

 

“How dare you?!” crows the Smarties boy.  

 

“It’s gross. It tastes like dirt!” he claims.

 

“He’s kind of right,” says the oldest one with a shrug and a half hearted grin.

 

“You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. Batman clearly knows his candy on the other hand,” says the Smarties boy. Dean thinks he likes him and he gives him another pack of the candy. The boy grins around his lollipop.

 

“You’re cool,” he says. He holds a hand out and Dean shakes it, firmly like Dad taught him to. “I’m Gabriel.”

 

“Dean,” he says. Gabriel smiles and he introduces the other boys, who are his brothers. The pitchfork boy is Lucifer (Dean is pretty sure that’s the name of the devil, but he doesn’t say anything), Michael is the oldest one, and the one in the big coat with really, really blue eyes is Cassie.

 

“Castiel,” the boy corrects, giving Gabriel an irritated look. Gabriel shrugs and Castiel sighs, like they’ve had this discussion before.

 

“Are you an angel?” Dean asks, pointing at the wings. Castiel nods and he fiddles with the too-long sleeves of his tan coat. Dean smiles and he says, “My mom says that angels are watching over me! Maybe you’re my angel!”

 

It’s a joke but Castiel turns pink and Michael lets out a bark of laughter.

 

“Maybe,” Castiel mumbles. Lucifer and Michael are talking to each other and snickering. Dean can’t hear what they’re saying, but they keep looking at him and Castiel with twin expressions of amusement.

 

“Dean, where are you?” Dean hears his mom calling for him a few seconds after that and he waves at Castiel and the others before he takes the half empty bowl of licorice back to Uncle Bobby. The older man just smiles at him and shakes his head.

 

“Giving all my candy away, boy?” he asks. Dean laughs and Bobby smiles, chuckling to himself as he takes the bowl from Dean to place it back in its spot on the table. Dean looks back to see the other boys talking amongst themselves and Lucifer holds up what looks like a roll of toilet paper. Michael’s face is disapproving but the other boy takes off before he can be told no. Michael and Gabriel go running after him, but Castiel stays behind, shivering and hugging himself tightly. Dean feels bad for him so he goes back down the steps and over to Castiel. He isn’t wearing a jacket, but he takes off his cape and drapes it over the other boy, wings and all.

 

“You looked cold,” Dean says. He looks over down the road where Castiel’s brothers ran off. “Do they do this every Halloween?”

 

“Yeah,” Castiel says. “They always leave me behind.”

 

“Where are your mom and dad?” Dean asks.

 

Castiel sniffs and he rubs his arms a bit.

 

“They’re home. They think trick or treating is silly, so they make Michael take us, but he’s getting too old and he’s no fun anymore,” Castiel says.

 

“Well that’s dumb. Hey, maybe I can come with you next year!” Dean suggests. “I won’t leave you behind. Promise!”

 

“Thank you, Dean,” Castiel says, smiling a bit.

 

“You have a pretty smile,” Dean observes astutely. “Mine looks funny now because I lost a tooth, see?”

 

He smiles and points to where his baby tooth fell out.

 

“Oh. Did the tooth fairy come?” he asks.

 

Dean nods, still smiling.

 

“She gave me a dollar, Cas!” he exclaims. Cas laughs and Dean thinks it sounds cute. He can’t help wondering if Cas lives nearby so he can play with him and hear him laugh again.

 

Dean is still keeping Cas warm when the others come to find him.

 

“Who’s your friend, Dean?” Mary asks.

 

“This is Cas. His brothers are stupid and left him alone, so I made sure he was okay,” Dean says proudly.

 

“That’s my boy,” John says, grinning down at Dean and giving him a pat on the back.

 

“Do you want us to take you home, Cas?” Mary offers. “My husband can go find your brothers if your parents are worried about them getting into trouble.”

 

Cas stares up at them for a little while and then he nods.

 

“Okay,” he says. “Can I stay with Dean? He’s nice.”

 

“Of course you can, sweetheart,” Mary says. Dean smiles widely and he grabs one of Cas’ hands and drags him along.

 

“Where do you live?” Dean asks.

 

“Over at that house,” Cas says, pointing. Dean looks over and can see the lights on in the house across the street from his own. He gasps and looks over at Cas, who squints his eyes like he’s confused.

 

“What?” he asks.

 

“I live across the street from you!” Dean exclaims excitedly. “That means we can play together.”

 

Cas blinks owlishly at him and tilts his head to the side.

 

“You want to play with me?” he asks.

 

“Of course, Cas. You’re my friend now, so we have to play more often, okay?”

 

Cas nods in agreement, still a little confused as to why this boy he just met wants to play with him. His parents had told him not to talk to strangers, but surely that doesn’t apply to Dean? He did say they were friends after all. That means Dean isn’t a stranger. He’s kind of excited to have a new friend to play with aside from his friend Meg from school. She’s nice too, but sometimes she plays mean jokes on him and his brothers. She always apologizes after, so Cas doesn’t stay mad at her for too long. Dean, on the other hand, doesn’t seem like the kind of boy to play mean pranks on him. He’s nice and he even gave Cas his Batman cape to keep warm. Even his brother Michael says that Batman is cool, so that means Dean has to be too.

 

He walks back to his house with Sam, Dean, and their mom. She’s dressed up like Wonder Woman and Cas thinks her costume is really cool. He sometimes sneaks into Gabriel’s room to read his superhero comic books and he still can’t pick a favorite. He wonders what his parents will think when they see that he’s been brought home by Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.

 

Mary rings the doorbell and Cas’ dad answers the door with a bowl of candy. He looks a bit surprised to see Mary dressed up, but his expression changes to one of confusion when he sees Cas standing with them.

 

“Castiel? Where are your brothers?” he asks.

 

“I think Lucifer went to go throw toilet paper on Mr. Adler’s house,” Cas says. “Michael tried to go after him to stop him and Gabriel went with him.”

 

“Oh, those boys. What am I going to do with them?” Cas’ dad says, shaking his head.

 

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” Mary says with a laugh. She pats Cas on the shoulder and he goes inside, standing next to his dad, fiddling with the sleeves of his coat again.

 

“Well, thank you for bringing Castiel home, Mrs?”

 

“Winchester. We actually live across the street from you. That house over there,” she says, pointing at the place in question.

 

“Oh,” he says, looking at her again and seeming to recognize her now. “Right, I think I’ve seen you guys before.”

 

“Probably. Sam and Dean love to play outside a lot. You know how kids are, especially at this age,” she says, eyeing Sam and Dean with a smirk.

 

“Of course. Speaking of, I guess I’d better go round up the others,” he says.

 

“Actually, I think my husband’s on his way over now,” Mary says, rising up on her toes to see down the street. Cas can see a flash of green as Dean’s dad comes walking down the street with his brothers in tow. Michael and Mr. Winchester are talking and Lucifer has the look he gets when someone’s told him off for being bad. Gabriel is just munching on another bag of M&Ms. Cas wonders how many cavities his big brother has now and considers the wiseness of telling him to go easy on the candy since he hates the dentist so much.

 

“Thanks again for taking us back, Mr. Winchester,” Michael is saying when they get to the front of the house.

 

“No problem, kiddo. Just make sure you keep an eye on this one over here,” he says, nodding towards Lucifer, who is busy jabbing at Gabriel with his plastic pitchfork.

 

“Believe me, I try. It’s impossible,” Michael says. John just laughs and it gets a little bit of a smile out of Cas’ eldest brother.

 

“It gets easier, let me tell you,” John says, patting him on the shoulder. “Eventually, they’ll listen to you.”

 

“That time can’t come soon enough,” Michael mutters. With one last thank you to John, he ushers his two younger siblings back into the house and Cas watches as he goes upstairs to no doubt work on the homework he’s been procrastinating. Gabriel retreats to the kitchen to count his candy and Lucifer plops down on the couch in the living room, enraptured in whatever cartoon he changes the channel to.

 

“Well, I think it’s time I get going. Make sure Gabriel doesn’t set something on fire in there,” Cas’ dad says. They say goodbye and Cas waves at Dean as the door closes.

 

It’s only after he’s changed into pajamas that he realizes he still has Dean’s Batman cape.

* * *

 

Dean is watching Tom and Jerry the next morning when he hears the doorbell ring. Mom is downstairs doing the laundry and Dad is reading the newspaper, so Dean gets up to answer it. He’s surprised when he sees Cas and Gabriel standing on the other side. Cas has something black clutched in his hands and it takes Dean a second to realize that it’s his cape.

 

“This is yours,” Cas says, holding it out to him. “I forgot to give it back last night.”

 

“Thanks, Cas,” Dean replies, taking the cape and folding it up in his arms. He looks over at where Dad is still reading the paper and eating a bowl of Lucky Charms (even though Dean _told_ him that’s _his_ cereal).

 

“Hey Dad. Can Cas and Gabriel come in?” he asks.

 

John looks up and if he’s surprised to see the two boys from across the street standing in the doorway, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he shrugs and motions with his spoon, inadvertently dripping milk onto the floor. Dean snickers because he knows that Mom hates that. He doesn’t tell Dad because it’s always funny to hear Mom give him the same speech she gives Sam and Dean when they forget to clean up after themselves.

 

Dean takes Cas by the hand and shows him into the living room where Sam is acting out a fight scene with his action figures. Sam waves at them when they walk in and Dean reaches into his candy basket where it’s sitting at the foot of the couch and takes out a packet of licorice before tossing it to Gabriel.

 

“You really know the way to my heart, Deano,” Gabriel says, licking his lips and tearing into the packet with glee. Cas rolls his eyes and he goes over to sit with Dean on the couch. It turns out that Cas has never watched Tom and Jerry before, so Dean makes sure he stays on the cartoon channel until they start playing something else.

 

He hears Mom coming up the stairs with the laundry a little while later and she greets Cas and Gabriel before she heads back to the bedroom to put away the clothes. Dean usually helps her, so he follows and is a little surprised when Cas goes too.

 

“Laundry is kinda boring, Cas. You can go play with Sam if you want,” Dean says.

 

“But I like being with you. You’re nice to me,” Cas replies. Dean smiles and even though folding laundry is really lame, it goes faster with Cas there to talk to. Mary watches them with a keen eye, smiling every once in awhile as she hangs up John’s shirts in the closet.

 

Cas and Gabriel end up staying for dinner. Dean is happy that he has someone else to talk to at the table, because sometimes all Dad talks about is how boring work is and Dean doesn’t care, even if he’s too nice to say so. Sammy is cool, but he’s usually too busy eating to talk to Dean and Mom gets mad when they talk with their mouths full anyway.

 

Dean notices that Cas is very proper, as his mom would say. He keeps his napkin on his lap like Mom does and he uses a fork and knife to cut his food, unlike Dean and Sam, who just shovel as much as they can onto their forks and hope for the best. Mom says something about how maybe Cas can teach them good table manners. Dean thinks that if Cas was teaching him, maybe he wouldn’t mind so much.

 

They talk about school and teachers and Dean talks about that one kid on his bus that talks too much. Garth is his name, but he’s really nice, so Dean only thinks he’s a little bit annoying. Cas talks about his friend Meg. She sounds like an nice girl and for some reason, Dean feels a little sad when he thinks that maybe Cas likes her better than him. But then Cas tells him that she’s mean sometimes and that Dean is cooler because he hasn’t been meant to him yet. Dean makes a promise to himself to never be mean to Cas so that the other boy always likes him better than Meg.

 

When Gabriel says they have to go home, Dean is a little sad, but then he remembers that they’re only across the street and he doesn’t even need Mom to drive him so he can go see them. He waves goodbye to them and Cas says that he had a lot of fun. Dean takes it as a good sign and he smiles, already waiting for tomorrow to come so they can come over again.

 

Mary watches her son with a knowing smile, able to sense that something is different about these two. And she turns out to be right many years later. After Sam is away at Stanford and Dean is a grad student at Kansas University, nobody is really surprised when he proposes to Castiel after four long and happy years together.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer since the beginning of the month but I wanted to wait to post it until closer to Halloween. Hope you guys liked it! Happy Halloween :D


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